Friday, December 31, 2004

Recently went to look at the on-line Britannica and cancelled within 72 hours. The stuff I was researching (broadcasting) was TEN years old. If the articles I was searching were so way off base, I have no trust in the rest.

In the meantime there is already a Wiki on the Great Wave.....

The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake struck the Indian Ocean on December 26, 2004 and caused tsunamis that killed over 150,000 people, the great majority in Indonesia, making this one of the deadliest natural disasters in modern history. The quake was an undersea megathrust earthquake of magnitude 9.0 off the western coast of northern Sumatra, Indonesia at 00:58:53 UTC (07:58:53 local time). It was the largest earthquake on Earth since the 9.2-magnitude Good Friday Earthquake which struck Alaska in 1964, and tied for fourth largest since 1900.

The tsunamis ravaged coastal regions all over the Indian Ocean, devastating parts of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand and other countries. The tsunamis reached heights of 15 m and flooded coastlines between fifteen minutes and ten hours after the quake. Deadly tsunamis struck as far away as Somalia and several other countries on the east coast of Africa, 4,500 km (2,800 mi) or more west of the epicentre. Global ripple effects were so widespread that wave fluctuations passed into the Pacific Ocean and caused tidal disturbances in North and South America.

When the analysis is done on the tragic events of December 26th, it seems incredible that many broadcasters and meteorological offices in Asia do not share information with each other, nor do they subscribe to warning services such as NOAA ( National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

If the US is giving out aid, then maybe knowledge could be part of the package. And the broadcasters in the area need to work out how they can get emergency weather information to their people and tourists visiting the country. It seems incredible that the Thai authorities did not issue a warning in Phuket because they were afraid of the Tourist Board (they reacted angrily when a previous warning from the Thai authorities did not eventuate).

It seems a bit wierd to read this press statement from the Tourist Board in Sri Lanka on a day of national mourning in the country. Bit early..although it is true that tourism plays an important role for those affected in Galle and other southern towns.

First we saw amazing acts of human kindness from Sri Lankans from all walks of life. Amidst the most staggering grief, I heard so many stories of our people reaching out to touch the lives of our foreign visitors. In so many different ways, Sri Lankans displayed their true hospitable nature' said Mr Udaya Nanayakkara, the Chairman of the Sri Lanka Tourist Board.

'Now there has been an incredible show of unity from all levels of our tourism industry, a determination to bounce back and put tourism on the road to recovery.

'A healthy tourism industry will be the key to the recovery of our economy, the rebuilding of our nation,' he added.

'We have already seen operations restored at more than half of the affected hotels, restoring more than 3,000 of the 5,600 hotel rooms affected by the waves. This has meant that we can supply food, shelter, clean drinking water and sanitation to many in the affected areas, greatly lessening the chances of disease.'

Concluded tourism chief, Mr Nanayakkara: "One of the most heartwarming effects of this tragedy has been the attitude of our foreign visitors. "A large number have refused to leave the country. They have insisted on traveling on to the interior where there is some of the most unique attractions in the world, including six world heritage sites.

Tourism is Sri Lanka's fourth largest source of foreign revenue. It directly benefits more than 200,000 people and contributes about US$400 million per year in foreign earnings. Before last Sunday's Tsunami, the country was on track to achieve record tourist arrivals of 575,000 visitors this year.

Thursday, December 30, 2004

More people in the US use Internet as a news source, than listen to public radio. Local television news tops the list of sources where most people in the United States get their daily news, according to a new poll on media usage from the Gallup Organization.

According to poll results released Dec. 22, 51 percent of those surveyed said they turn to local television news daily. Nineteen percent said they view local TV news several times a week. Local newspapers ranked second on the list, with 44 percent turning to papers daily.

Twenty-seven percent watch national television morning news shows and public television news programming every day. The poll also found that 21 percent of adults turn to talk radio for news, 20 percent rely on Internet sites, 17 percent listen to National Public Radio for news and 7 percent turn to national newspapers like The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.

The only news source to grow in use among the public was the Internet. In 2002, a Gallup poll found 15 percent relied on the Internet, 5 percent fewer than the 20 percent mark reached in this year’s poll.

Since 2002, there has been a decline in the reported use of public television news, nightly network news and local television news. Public television news declined by 8 percent, nightly network news has fallen by 7 percent and local news dropped 6 percent. Reliance on NPR as a source for news dropped 5 percent, which the Gallup Organization reported being slightly higher than the poll’s margin of error.

Tuesday, December 28, 2004

Victor Goonetilleke, a long time radio colleague, lives just outside the capital of Sri Lanka, Colombo. He sent this e-mail on Tuesday morning.

The tragedy is horrendous. Some of the video is frightening and so pathetic.
All of us are OK but working flat out trying hard to organize some emergency amateur radio communications. We're also doing some food distribution and things like that. Since the affected areas are so widespread in the country, things are very hard. Everyone within 1000 metres or so of the coast have been badly affected right along the coast from North to South on the eastern side of the island. In some areas as far as 2-3 kms inland. On the Western side not so bad, about 100 metres from the coast is seriously affected. As the quake was on the Eastern side of the island and the tidal waves came from the East/ South East. You have to be here to see the vast destruction..frightening.. Even though my family or very close friends have not been affected, we know too many who have perished. Some heart breaking stories are aleady emerging.

I got back to my home after a hectic day on Monday 27th. We are sending a radio amateur team to the worst affected area to link on HF (shortwave) and try VHF through one of our functioning repeaters. A coordination centre will be set up Tuesday 28th at "Temple Trees" at the Prime Minister's official residence in Colombo. We have some more volunteers who would go, but we have a shortage of portable equipment, transport, etc. to the affected areas etc. I hope our efforts tomorrow to link Hambantota which is in the deep South is successful as it has been totally cut off since the first waves hit..

The US Amateur Radio Organisation, ARRL, is carrying another update on the current situation in India, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Sri Lanka, with thanks to Bernie McClenny, W3UR, and from Horey Majumdar, VU2HFR.

News agencies now report estimates of more than 27,000 feared dead from the tsunamis(tidal waves) that took place in the Bay of Bengal December 26. The estimated death toll in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands ranges from 2000 to 5000. Horey Majumdar reports that radio amateurs in India are handling hundreds of pieces of health and welfare traffic regarding people missing and from relatives of those living in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which are closer to the earthquake's epicenter.

"There is presently no communication from Nicobar Islands," Majumdar reports, noting that Nicobar received more damage than Andaman. McClenny says a radio-amateur expedition in the area at the time (VU4RBI/VU4NRO DXpedition team) continues to pass emergency traffic. C. K. "Ram" Raman, VU3DJQ, reports he was in contact with Sarath, 4S7SW, a physician operating from the vicinity of a hospital in Mathara, Sri Lanka, which also was heavily hit by the tsunamis. "He is requesting food, clothing and medicines for relief," Raman reported. "He will be listening on shortwave on the frequencies of 14.195 MHz and 21.295 MHz." Telephones are not working in that part of Sri Lanka, he said.

McClenny and Majumdar agree that it was fortuitous that the VU4RBI/VU4NRO DXpedition was under way when the disaster struck. "If there is a positive aspect to this disaster, it may very well be that the Indian government--and others--realize the ability of Amateur Radio during these difficult times," McClenny observed.

The initial earthquake off the Indonesian Island of Sumatra just before 0100 UTC on December 26 now has been upgraded to 9.0 on the Richter scale. Since then, the National Earthquake Information Center has reported some 18 aftershocks split between the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The most recent, just before 0100 UTC today, registered 6.1 on the Richter scale.

Sandeep Baruah, VU2MUE, reports two emergency frequencies have been established. VU4NRO, the team at Port Blair, will be QRV on or near 14.190 MHz. The club station VU2NRO in Hyderabad on the mainland will relay traffic to and from Port Blair.

Other emergency traffic frequencies being reported include 14.193 and 14.160 MHz in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, 7.050 MHz in South India, 7.055 MHz in Indonesia and 7.075 in Thailand, where stations from 4S7, VU2 and 9M2 were reportedly heard.

D.V.R.K. Murthy, VU2DVO,and Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, are now in Port Blair. Reports indicate that some telephone lines are now working, but there still is no water or electricity at the Hotel Sinclair, where the VU4 DXpedition was headquartered.

In the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the most devastated area is Car Nicobar, which has been totally cut off. It is possible that Amateur Radio operators may travel to this area after obtaining clearance from local authorities.

Club station VU2NCT and VU2MUE in Calcutta all are helping with the efforts to pass emergency traffic to Port Blair.

Baruah is operating club radio station VU2NCT in coordination with the National Disaster Control, New Delhi. The Calcutta VHF Amateur Radio Society has set up a control station from Calcutta. Majumdar is operating that station and has been in touch with VU4RBI in the Andamans.

Charly Harpole, K4VUD, who had been visiting the VU4RBI/VU4NRO operation and filing regular reports via The Daily DX now is reported back on the Indian mainland.

Majumdar also tells ARRL that hams from Bangalore and Chennai on the Indian mainland are moving toward Nagapattinam to set up ham radio disaster communication stations at Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu--the worst-affected areas on the mainland. The Indian Army is assisting stations on Andaman by providing logistics and backup batteries.

Majumdar says radio amateurs from Bangalore, Chennai and other parts of South India are trying to set up stations in the affected areas of Tamil Nadu.

James Brooks, 9V1YC, provided additional information via The Daily DX. He says Andaman and Nicobar Islands authorities have asked the DXpedition team for relief communications help. They have requested one station at the deputy commissioner's office in Port Blair and another on the remote Nicobar Islands. VU2RSB will be manning the station at the deputy commissioner's office in Port Blair, and VU2RSI will staff the station at the current DXpedition site until further notice.

He reports the Indian Army will be flying VU2MYH and VU2DVO out to the Nicobar Islands with three days' food, a rig, batteries and an inverted V antenna. The VU4RBI/VU4NOR team was allowed back into the damaged hotel building and Bharathi Prasad, VU2RBI, "is bravely operating on the fifth floor using the Yagi antenna" despite continued aftershocks. Telephones in the building are also working again. Commercial power is returning slowly, but the DXpedition team continues to use battery power most of the time.

Friday, December 24, 2004

Spending Christmas 2004 in Norwich, Eastern England. Famous for its cathedral and castle. Rather rural, but a great place to live. Not in the craptowns collection (great series of books). Took this picture while Christmas shopping...shops were empty on Friday 24th...getting ready for the sales on Monday.

Tuesday, December 21, 2004

They say Amsterdam is the Venice of the North. When you see the newly developed harbour area East of Central Station, it shows what can be done when you get inner city planning right. This has the potential to be a creative part of town in the future...

Friday, December 10, 2004

Cooking For Engineers is a great new site for those with an analytical mind. I'm busy on two media projects which seem to be struggling for the same deadline - hence the blogger silence for the time being.

Tuesday, December 07, 2004

The following list is a compilation of several common password lists plus some lists of common words and common names (the most common of the U.S. Census common name lists) purged of duplications. In reality, any word that appears in the dictionary used by an intruder, would be cracked as quickly as any of these. These are worse than some others only in that they are likely to appear in any dictionary used by any cracker. Other words and names are almost as common and thus almost as likely to appear in any cracking dictionary. It's likely that some words and or names more common than some of these have been missed. If a cracker uses an unabridged dictionary or combinations of dictionaries, it will be very hard to find any word or name they won't crack. This includes any variations such as discussed in Password Cracking.

Sunday, December 05, 2004

Every hour, a site by Jonathan Harris called 10x10 scans the RSS feeds of several leading international news sources, and performs an elaborate process of weighted linguistic analysis on the text contained in their top news stories. After this process, conclusions are automatically drawn about the hour's most important words. The top 100 words are chosen, along with 100 corresponding images, culled from the source news stories. At the end of each day, month, and year, 10x10 looks back through its archives to conclude the top 100 words for the given time period. In this way, a constantly evolving record of our world is formed, based on prominent world events, without any human input.

Sources.

Currently, 10x10 gathers its data from the following news sources:
Reuters World News BBC World Edition New York Times International News

What is holding back radio? The dial. Millions of Euro's worth of great content is still hidden behind a number (or in the old days -the name of the transmitter site). There are some interesting experiments with Electronic Programme Guides in the UK (Unique Broadcasting showed them at IBC 2004) but we're some years before you can choose good radio by the contest. Wish there was Google inside my DAB radio. And I wish DAB wasn't so useless in Holland, as it is being boycotted by the commercial stations. They in turn we're ripped off by the Dutch government trying to make a fast buck on the FM licences. Boy, did that policy backfire!

What do we have to do to get Holland innovating again? I fear it is not what the Innovatieplatform have in mind. Their English language website still says "The Innovation Platform started its activities in September 2003 and is installed - by Royal Decree – from september 2003 untill 1 July 2007". Brilliant - translated by a true professional.

At the moment the Netherlands is drowning - not in water - but in mediocrity. I agree with these quotes:-

The most insidious influence on the young is not violence, drugs, tobacco, drink or sexual perversion, but our pursuit of the trivial and our tolerance of the third rate.
* Eric Anderson

The way to get on in the world is to be neither more nor less wise, neither better nor worse than your neighbours.
* William Hazlitt

There's Nothing in the Middle of the Road but Yellow Stripes and Dead Armadillos
* Jim Hightower

When small men attempt great enterprises, they always end by reducing them to the level of their mediocrity.
* Napoleon I

The middlebrow is the man, or woman, of middlebred intelligence who ambles and saunters now on this side of the hedge, now on that, in pursuit of no single object, neither art itself nor life itself, but both mixed indistinguishably, and rather nastily, with money, fame, power, or prestige.
* Virginia Woolf

Just found this article of mine in Practical Wireless August 1979 - in which I predicted the use of digital transmission over AM. I remember the editor at the time saying they would print it - but it was a long shot. That was before compression technology was really thought of.

Impressed by the VRT presentations in Istanbul, both for radio (Studio Brussel) as well as the soon-to-be-relaunched VRT-1. These guys have worked out the role of public broadcasting in a small country.